How miserable are Buffalo sports fans? ESPN has a tool to gauge that

Ryan Evans moved to Western New York in the mid-1990s and became a Buffalo Bills fan a few years after the teams memorable four-year run of Super Bowl appearances.

It was a little too late to celebrate the full scope of near glory, but close enough that Evans still saw the Bills, led by quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Doug Flutie, make the playoffs from 1995-99.

Then Evans endured the Bills 17-season playoff drought, a dubious stretch that ran until 2016.

Evans grew up in Pittsford and lives in the Minneapolis suburbs, so he also claims the Twins, Timberwolves and Minnesota United FC as his favorite teams.

One would expect Evans to be miserable, as a fan of Buffalo and Minnesota-based teams.

In fact, a recent ESPN quiz dubbed the Sports Misery Index and even gauged Evans as being woeful.

Bills quarterback Doug Flutie scores the game winner vs.

the Jaguars on Oct.

18, 1998, at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park.

I thought it would be a little bit better, but I can see where (ESPN) is coming from, Evans said.

The Sabres are an absolute anchor.

The Twins, they went how long without even winning a playoff game? The Timberwolves, outside the last couple years woeful has been a pretty good word for it.

I thought Id get at least a little bump up, but those two teams cant finish.

Maybe I got dinged more for the Bills.

I miss the early years of the glory years, but the last few years have been pretty successful.

ESPN on Aug.

13 released its Sports Misery Index , an interactive tool that ranks if fans of certain teams are woeful, flailing, meh, pleasant or elated about the team or teams in which they are invested.

One would think Buffalo fans, given the recent highs of the Bills and lows of the Sabres, would rate somewhere between flailing and meh, but ESPNs tool can pinpoint exactly how people should feel about their Western New York fandom.

First, you predict how you will feel: Woeful, flailing, meh, pleasant or elated.

Then you search for your favorite team or teams in the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, NFL, Major League Soccer, WNBA and NWSL, and how long you have been a fan of each team.

Then, hit the button that reads See results.

Brace yourself.

An algorithm calculates several factors, including a teams regular-season and playoff success, its success against expectations (For example, an NHL team thats predicted to win only 35 games wins 47 in a season), success in recent seasons versus success 20 years ago, and an individuals length of time as a fan of a team or teams.

You are: Woeful ESPN boasts that this tool will take a hard look at the teams you love.

Does it ever.

If youve been a fan of the Sabres and Bills for at least 15 years, ESPNs Misery Index gives it to you straight.

Although Sabres fans do not need a caption, this is the moment before the Stars won their first Stanley Cup.

Brett Hulls controversial goal late in the third overtime gave Dallas a 2-1 victory over Buffalo in Game 6 in 1999.

You are: Woeful.

A score of 89100 is the most miserable; a score of 0 is the most elated.

(As if Western New York needs any more reminders.) Five to 15 years? Still woeful.

Less than five years? Flailing.

The Josh Allen Era has been good to you.

The Rasmus Dahlin Era? Not so much.

Buffalo sports fans almost take ownership of their misery.

There have been more than a few despondent moments in local sports history, including: Rated as elated The beauty of ESPNs Misery Index is it can be manipulated if you want to temporarily take ownership of a rival team or simply want to find out how good other fan bases have it.

Plug in the Chiefs, Florida Panthers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Dodgers as your favorite NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB teams, and you are rated as elated.

To the champions go the spoils, and the good vibes.

Go regional and pick the Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Browns and Columbus Blue Jackets, and youre just woeful.

Take on the Lone Star-sized combination of the Dallas Stars, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and Dallas Wings, and you are flailing.

Enter a one-pro-team town such as Jacksonville or San Antonio.

If youve been a longtime fan of the Jaguars, who have been in the NFL since 1995, your fandom is woeful.

If youre a lifelong Spurs fan, your fan experience is deemed pleasant.

Five NBA titles and a roster that included David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker puts an organization in good graces.

But if youre one of those fans whose loyalty crosses boundaries say, a lifelong Yankees fan from Buffalo who grew up rooting for the Sabres but hopped on the Golden State Warriors bandwagon in the last 10 years, youre just meh.

I would probably cry Keep in mind that theres a level of subjectivity to the quiz and how it determines fan misery.

Dont let an algorithm rate or berate your passion for your favorite team.

Even if they havent made the playoffs since 2011 or their road to the Super Bowl ended at an off-ramp somewhere outside Kansas City.

Success for different fans, or feelings of elation, probably are from different standards, Evans said.

You think about the Bills, and they havent been able to get over the Chiefs in the last six years or so, but I wouldnt trade the last six or seven years for the previous 16 or 17 years.

But not making a Super Bowl and it making me woeful? Absolutely not.

Still, what would make a Buffalo sports fans misery index tick upward from the ranking of woeful? As someone who has always tended to lean Sabres-first, when it comes to fandom, if they just made the playoffs, Evans said.

Ive told people that if they get there and get swept, I dont care.

Just make the playoffs.

Do that, and I would probably cry.

If ESPNs Misery Index had to rate that, even in tears, he would probably be elated.

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